Steam-condensing and feed-water system for steamships



c R'JLANG STEAM CONDENSING AND FEED WATER SYSTEM FOR STEAMSHIPS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 17, 1919- 1,377,Q80. Patented May 3, 1921 June/Mob Charles Russell Lang cnnnnns. nussELL LANG, or CATI-ICART, cnescow, SCOTLAND, ASSIGNOR o WEIR, LIMITED, OF GLASGOW, SCOTLAND.

STEAM-CONDEN SING AND FEED-WATER SYSTEM FOR STEAMSHIPS.

Patented na 1921.

Application filed. July 17, 1919. Serial No. 311,588.

T 0 all to hom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES RUssnLL Lane, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Cathcart, Glasgow, Scotland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam- Gondensing and Feed-Water Systems for Steamships, and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to steam condensing and feed water systems for steamships in which the water of condensation is. withdrawn from the main condenser by a hotwell pump directly driven by a steam engine: the pump delivers the water into the main feed pipe and thence to the suction of the boiler feed pump under a pressure considerably above atmosphere; the steam supply to the pump engine is controlled by a float in a chamber which may be awell at the bottom of the condenser and which receives the water of condensation.

In many installations-especially in warshipsit is impossible to so arrange the hotwell pump with respect to the condenser that the water supplied to the pump has any considerable head; and consequently, unless the suction valves of the pump are very light and can be opened with very little effort, there is difficulty in filling the pump cylinder with water on the suction stroke of the pump.

The present inventionwhich will be described in the following specification and more particularly defined in the annexed claims-consists in a combination of elements in a system as above mentioned, in-

cluding a steam-jet ejector placed between the condenser and the hot-well pump for the purpose of maintaining ahead on the water supplied to this pump. The head produced by the ejector may be many times greater than the static head due to the vertical distance between the water level in the condenser and the pump, and therefore allows of the condenser being placed low down in the ship, while it enables the pump to deliver the feed water along the main feed pipe at a greater pressure-it may be a very much greater pressure-than would otherwise be possible, and, moreover, permits of the employment of heavier, and consequently more durable, valves. Further, the provision of a head on the water delivered to the pump allows the latter to receive the water without trouble at a higher temperature than would oherwise be possible or satisfactory.

The accompanying drawing illustrates howthe invention can be conveniently carried into effect.

a is the condenser n the float chamber (which receives the water of condensation), and 0 the steam-driven direct-acting hotwell pump. The float fin the float chamber acts through the agency of the lever h, link is, and lever j on the valve d which controls the supply of actuating steam to the engine 6 which drives the pump 0. In accordance with the present invention a steam-jet ejector b is placed between the float chamber m and the pump 0; the ejector receives the water from the chamber m through-a non-return valve 9 and delivers it to the pump 0 through the conduit p. Steam is supplied to the ejector at 7.

Either live or exhaust steam at any suit able pressure may be employed as the actuating fluid in the ejector; and the ejector may be either'single-stage or multi-stage.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let- 1 ters Patent is in a steam condensing and feed water system for steamships, the comb1nat10n with condenser having a collecting chamber,

a main feed pipe, a steam-driver1 direct-actmg pump positioned below the condenser and adapted to discharge the water of condensa-tion r tion.

CHARLES RUSSELL LANG.

rom the said condenser into the said main feed pipe, of a steamet e ector 

